the secret of the tangerine tunnel

Months before I traveled to Japan, I spoke with a TV commercial director who told me many interesting stories about his vacation there with his family.

"When we were in Kyoto," he said, "we took the train to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Man, do you remember the scene in 'Memoirs of a Geisha' where the young Sayuri was running inside a tunnel of orange posts? That was the place. It was awesome!"

Then his eyes widened. "But you must hear the rest of my story. You remember my daughter? Remember I told you she has a third eye? While we were walking through the endless row of toriis, she suddenly freaked out! She couldn't breath... was crying like anything! We had to rush her out of there and give her lots of water to drink.'

'When she was well enough to talk, she revealed to us that she saw countless spirits of dead people roaming the place, and that a lot of them scrambled to get to her, pleading for help like lost souls. They must have sensed that my daughter could see them... it freaked me out, too!"

Last April 9, when I finally visited the Fushimi Inari Shrine with J, it was late afternoon and only as handful of tourists were present. The minute we were inside the torii tunnel, I stood very, very still. No, I didn't sense any spirit breathing in my ear. Even my companion J, who claims to be 'sensitive', didn't get any ghostly vibe. Whew!

But it was an eerie, beautiful place alright.

The place is open 24 hours but you won't see me around after sunset. I'll run out of that tunnel faster than the young Zhang Ziyi did in the movie. :-0

(Top pic) The Bearbrick in the pink Japanese kimono with crests is the 'secret' bearbrick of the 'Toys R Us' - Set A Series, released in 2001!

All pics by yours truly, taken at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto

Translation: Torii = Gate

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the deadly storm

Last June 21, at the height of Typhoon Fengshen, a local ferry called MV Princess of the Stars carrying 849 passengers capsized off Sibuyan Island in the Philippines. Only 56 survived.

26-year-old Jimmy Relativo, a bakeshop employee from Manila, was among the few who were able to climb on a raft to safety. But his 22-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Roselyn Ligan, did not make it.

Below is a snippet of his own account from Tarra Quismundo's Philippine Daily Inquirer article:

' “I was thrown overboard and got separated from her. I saw her climb [up the bow] when the ship started to tilt. I told her to jump, but when I glanced back to the ship, she was gone,” said Relativo." '

The article recounted how the couple boarded the MV Princess of the Stars en route to Negros Island to tell Roselyn's father of their plans to get married.

But just hours before they were scheduled to dock, powerful winds overturned the ship. Jimmy and his co-survivors were washed ashore in the far-flung province of Quezon.

Days after, hopes of saving other trapped survivors died. Search and rescue operations had to stop because the ferry was carrying an acutely toxic cargo called endosulphan, a substance that is already banned in 17 countries. Fishing in the area is now prohibited, and local fishermen were told to find an alternative source of livelihood.

The tragic love story has taken an even deadlier turn.

(Top) Misha Hollenbach's Perks Bearbrick (with the rain clouds pattern) is part of the 2004 Bearbrick Worldwide Tour held at the Shibuya Parco in Tokyo. There are 9 other bears designed by various artists in this exhibit.

(Bottom) Natives of Sibuyan's fishing village stare at the exposed keel of the overturned MV Princess of the Stars ferryboat after the accident.

MV Princess of the stars pic from BBC UK website.